Thursday, July 22, 2010

WVTK Local & State News July 22, 2010

Crews have been working throughout the night to restore power to customers. At one point last night CVPS officials say they had over 11-thousand customers in the dark. Chittenden County was hit hard yesterday afternoon followed by Rutland County getting the brunt of the storm last night. Workers say most of the outages were due to down trees and limbs.

There is an update to the story about the hit-and-run accident Sunday morning in Moriah. Police now believe 31-year-old Joshua Novak was lying in the road before he was struck. Police have also released the name of the driver, 20-year-old Mandy Lebeau of Middlebury. Police say she initially left the scene but returned a short time later and reported the accident to police.

Police in Rutland are warning residents to be on the lookout for daytime burglaries. They say they've seen more than 25 daytime burglaries so far this summer. Most happen while people are at work or on vacation. Police say in some of the cases thieves got in by removing window air conditioning units that weren't locked down.

A weeklong bicycle tour through the Champlain Valley is promising to bring hundreds of cyclists and thousands of tourism dollars to the region. Velo Quebec, a Canadian-based nonprofit cycling organization, will bring their popular cycling adventure to the area Aug. 7-13. The tour will take participants on a 500-mile journey from Adirondack Community College in Glens Falls north to Montréal in a scenic journey meant to trace the steps of the region's earliest explorers and settlers. Ticonderoga is marked as the second "cyclist village" on the journey where tour participants will be making two overnight stays and will be encouraged to make optional scenic detours through some of the surrounding towns and villages.

Dairy farmers in Vermont and elsewhere could be forced to spend thousands of dollars to meet a new regulation that holds them to the same cleanup standard for spilled milk as oil producers do for oil spills. New York Senator Charles Schumer has called on federal regulators to finalize a proposed exemption for dairy farmers.

Foreclosure rates are expected to rise again nationally and weaken the economic recovery. But Vermont continues to have the lowest rate of foreclosures by far in the country. For the first six months of this year, Vermont had just 78 foreclosures. That's just 1 of every 4,008 households. New York ranks 41st for foreclosures with 1 in every 326 households.

The results are back and they show that the powdery substance that was delivered to the Plattco Corporation in Plattsburgh was harmless. The powder arrived in a package that was opened by employees Tuesday morning. Because it was "potentially hazardous material", a number of employees had to go though a decontamination process.

Governor Jim Douglas made a surprise trip to Iraq to visit troops serving there. Governor Douglas along with 4 four other governors were there yesterday morning to surveying conditions as troops prepare to leave the country next year. Douglas said, "It is a privilege to be able to see firsthand the work they have done in Iraq."

Burlington Police are looking for the man the attempted to rob a convenience store just down the road from the Police Station. According to reports, the unidentified man walked into Simon's Tuesday Night, flashed a handgun, and demanded an employee open the register. He then fled without any cash. If you have any information, please call the Burlington Police Department.

A Shrewsbury man is being charged with impersonating a state police trooper. Police say 48-year-old Joseph Marro confronted two drivers this month, one in Wallingford and one in Clarendon, and accused them of speeding. In both instances, police say Marro claimed to be an off-duty state trooper. He is currently behind bars for lack of bail.

The region’s town greens will come alive with the sounds of Shakespeare over the next two weeks. 

The Rutland Youth Theatre hits the road with “The Comedy of Errors” as this year’s selection for Traveling Shakespeare. 

Among the towns the group will visit are Bristol, Wallingford, Shrewsbury, West Rutland, Middlebury, Castleton and Orwell. 

As part of the Rutland Recreation Department, the theater group will also play two shows for its own audience, one in a more unique location: the former quarry within Pine Hill Park at Giorgetti Arena.

The Bassmaster Northern Open kicks off on Lake Champlain today and runs through Saturday. 400 anglers will set their sights on winning the top prize of more than $45,000. Anglers will launch and weigh-in from the Plattsburgh Boat Basin. The public is invited to come and watch this nationally televised event.